Arriving in the UK from Germany, this writer unfailingly notices the astonishing number of Chinese cars on the roads.

Declining to follow the European Union (and US) in hitting Sino auto imports with tariffs has benefited British consumers, giving them access to high-quality, generously equipped Chinese vehicles for comparatively little money.

But this laissez-faire approach now risks damaging what’s left of the UK’s large-scale auto manufacturing, while also hampering the task of rebuilding ties with the EU.

Although UK Business Secretary Jonathan Reynolds insists his country won’t be pressured by Brussels into changing its position on Chinese car imports, I wonder whether that’s tenable over the long term. (Reynolds says the topic is “under review.”) The crux of the problem is the EU’s push to restrict purchase subsidies, corporate-fleet incentives and public procurement to vehicles assembled within the bloc using locally sourced components.

Although Britain is a diminished automaking nation, it still relies on Europe to absorb more than half of its car exports. The competitiveness of those shipments and the associated manufacturing jobs are worth preserving.

The good news is that Europe’s auto industry wants Britain to count as “Made in Europe” under the so-called Industrial Accelerator Act. Doubtless that’s partly out of a desire to protect its own investments and suppliers — BMW AG’s Mini has a factory in Oxford, for example.

But policymakers and some executives are calling for a quid pro quo. Brussels wants Britain to align itself with the EU’s more stringent policies toward Chinese auto imports, according to the Financial Times.

Having already hit China’s EVs with tariffs of up to 45%, including the existing 10% duty, the EU is now following up with a cap on its hybrids. The UK has no import limits on Chinese cars and charges just the standard 10% import duty.

That’s part of the reason why Britain accounted for almost 30% of all Chinese models sold in Western Europe so far this year, according to Schmidt Automotive Research data. Nearly one in four cars purchased in the UK in September came from a Chinese brand, and the Jaecoo 7 — aka the Temu Range Rover — was once again Britain’s top-selling new car. Available in petrol and hybrid versions, prices start at a very reasonable £29,000 ($38,500.) Warnings about the UK turning into a Chinese “Trojan horse”’ or backdoor into the EU can feel overblown. Yet there’s no question Britain’s openness has fueled a price war that’s hurting French and German manufacturers.

So what? Competition is a good thing: It’s compelled Western incumbents to embrace long overdue cost-cutting and launch their own lower-priced EVs, some of which are very good.

But although I’m no fan of protectionism, I still think it’s reasonable for the EU to grant its carmakers some breathing space and to incentivize local production. And I can understand why Brussels doesn’t want its neighbor across the Channel undermining its industrial strategy.

Britain’s divergence on tariffs is especially unhelpful when Prime Minister Andy Burnham is rightly trying to undo some of the most pernicious consequences of Brexit and doesn’t rule out rejoining the bloc at some stage. (That would be a long process but one can dream.) One reason China sees the UK as an attractive place to sell cars is that British consumers are more open-minded than their continental counterparts. (There are also fewer patriotic purchases to make now that most of Britain’s car industry is foreign-owned.) Plus, Brits have an appealing tendency — at least to carmakers — to pick more expensive vehicles than their households’ financial situation might justify.

The upshot is that BYD Co. and Jaecoo owner Chery Automobile Co. have invested in extensive dealer and service networks in the UK.

But in terms of production, Britain has so far gained relatively little from its openness to Chinese trade. True, Chery is looking at filling spare production capacity at Nissan Motor Co.’s Sunderland plant, along with opening a UK R&D center.

But MG, which makes a lot of its British heritage despite now being owned by China’s SAIC Motor Corp., is planning to open a factory in Spain. (MG stopped making cars in the UK’s West Midlands a decade ago.) And after constructing a plant in Hungary, BYD has said Spain and France are front-runners for its next European facilities.

These localization efforts by Chinese manufacturers will help them avoid the EU’s tariffs. Britain’s attractions are less obvious: Its energy costs are too high, the supplier base has been hollowed out and the terms of its post-Brexit auto trade with the EU remain in flux.

Although the UK undoubtedly retains an edge in low-volume luxury manufacturing, there aren't many large-scale manufacturers left in Britain: The list is led by Nissan, Jaguar Land Rover Automotive Plc., Mini and Toyota Motor Corp. Last year the UK made slightly more than 700,000 cars. That’s the fewest since the 1950s and compares with 1.7 million as recently as a decade ago.

Being shut out of Brussels’ Made in Europe legislation would be another heavy blow. Even Chery might struggle to justify substantial investment in UK manufacturing under those circumstances. “UK plants need competitive access to the continental European market to achieve the scale required for economically viable production,” Philipp Seidel, principal at consultancy Arthur D. Little, tells me.

Of course, if Britain does end up aligning with Brussels on tariffs, there’s always a danger China retaliates with levies of its own — with luxury carmakers like JLR among those at risk.

But the UK has less to lose than in the past: JLR’s China sales have already declined significantly, in part because Beijing lowered its consumption tax threshold for high-end cars.

As a middle power caught between the Chinese and EU forcefields, Britain may be forced to choose.

Whatever the outcome, Chinese cars are bound to remain popular with UK consumers. Their brands are now familiar and trusted, and Chinese manufacturers have the financial wherewithal to absorb much of the burden of any tariffs, just as they’ve had to do on the continent. When asked recently about the risk of levies, Jaecoo’s UK boss sounded quite relaxed.

If import taxes help preserve British manufacturing jobs, while also enhancing the country’s chances of someday rejoining the EU, then paying a bit more for your next Chinese auto might be worthwhile.